Councillors can currently accept donations from developers, but must not vote on related planning issues.

Ms Sandell says that’s all too easy.

‘How can a council function when half of them are out of the room?’ she said.

The first-term MP claimed the City of Melbourne council, led by Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, had a particular reliance on developer donations, accepting more than $400,000 in the lead-up to the last election.